Thin film photovoltaic cells or devices generally include an opaque electrical contact which serves as a substrate upon which a first semiconductor layer is applied. A second semiconductor layer is then formed or applied to the first semiconductor layer with an electrical junction formed therebetween. Finally, a second electrical contact is applied to the second semiconductor layer. Such structure involves the basic components of a thin film photovoltaic cell. Numerous variations including the manner of forming the various layers, the materials, etc., are known and practiced in the art. For example, one such practice involves the formation of cadmium sulfide and copper sulfide and semiconductor layers. Other known semiconductor materials include amorphous silicon and zinc phosphide. Additionally such cells have been formed by using, for example, copper-indiuim-selenide on cadmium sulfide or zinc cadmium sulfide. In order for such photovoltaic devices to have the desired durability and yield, the semiconductor layers should be free of defects which might otherwise cause shorts. For example, commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,286 discusses the possible electrical shorts that may result in such cells. This patent discloses attempts to avoid such shorts by providing blocking layer material where necessary to prevent the undesired contact between non-adjacent layers.
It would be desirable to avoid such electrical shorts in other manners than described in the aforesaid patent.